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A former Ottawa Rough Rider got two seniors out of their burning home Sunday morning.

Bruce Walker, an award-winning Rider wide receiver from 1979 to 1985, was heading to work at the Ottawa Athletic Club around 8:30 a.m. when he thought he saw a lot of smoke coming from a home at 1534 Weyburn St.

He stopped, turned around and saw there was an SUV in the carport which was already fully aflame.

“It was engulfed in flames,” he said. “And the flames were pretty high.”

Walker could also see the house was beginning to catch fire as a result, so he ran to the front door and began banging on it. When nobody responded, he opened the outer glass door and hammered harder on the inside one.

“I saw an older woman walking through the kitchen in her night coat and pyjamas,” he said.

He managed to get her to open the door and told her that she needed to get out of the house and call 911. He asked if there was anyone else at home and was told the woman’s husband was still asleep.

Walker eventually got the man out of bed and both out into the driveway. He could see the woman was quite upset, so he took over speaking with the 911 operator.

“The response was incredibly fast,” he said. “There were six trucks, a pumper and ambulances and police everywhere,” he said.

Firefighters say the blaze extended to the carport and the attic space of the home and caused significant water damage from putting the fire out.

Former Rough Rider rescues two seniors from burning home

A former Ottawa Rough Rider got two seniors out of their burning home Sunday morning.

Bruce Walker, an award-winning Rider wide receiver from 1979 to 1985, was heading to work at the Ottawa Athletic Club around 8:30 a.m. when he thought he saw a lot of smoke coming from a home at 1534 Weyburn St.

He stopped, turned around and saw there was an SUV in the carport which was already fully aflame.